About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
While the larger arteries in the heart are responsible for pumping blood through your heart, the small vessels expand when you're active and need more oxygen in your blood, and then contract while you're at rest.
The large vessels in your heart can become narrowed or blocked through atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty deposits build up in the arteries. In small vessel disease, the narrowing of the small vessels in the heart makes it so they can't expand properly when you're active. As a result, you don't get an adequate supply of oxygen-rich blood. This inability to expand is called endothelial dysfunction. This problem may cause your small vessels to actually become smaller when you're active or under emotional stress. The reduced blood flow through the small vessels causes chest pain and other symptoms similar to those you'd have if you were having angina or a heart attack.
- Lanza GA, et al. Primary coronary microvascular dysfunction: Clinical presentation, pathophysiology, and management. Circulation. 2010;121:2317.
- What is coronary microvascular disease? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/cmd/cmd_all.html. Accessed July 10, 2010.
- Beltrame JF, et al. Advances in coronary microvascular dysfunction. Heart, Lung and Circulation. 2009;18:19.
- Camici PC, et al. Coronary microvascular dysfunction. New England Journal of Medicine. 2007;356:830.
- Lakhani K, et al. Microvascular dysfunction in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Human Reproduction. 2005;20:3219.
- Topcu S, et al. Metformin therapy improves coronary microvascular function in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance. Clinical Endocrinology. 2006;65:75.
- Foster W, et al. Inflammation and microvascular and macrovascular endothelial dysfunction in rheumatoid arthritis: Effect of treatment. The Journal of Rheumatology. 2010;37:711.
- Kurth T, et al. Migraine and ischaemic vascular events. Cephalalgia. 2007;27:965.
- Coenzyme Q10. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed July 11, 2010.
- Littarru GP, et al. Clinical aspects of coenzyme Q10: An update. Nutrition. 2010;26:250.
- Hamilton SJ, et al. Coenzyme Q10 improves endothelial dysfunction in statin-treated type 2 diabetic patients. Diabetes Care. 2009;32:810.
- L-arginine. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed July 11, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on